England reached the final of the T20 World Cup in 2016 and if Carlos Brathwaite’s madness hadn’t ended in the final, they could have become champions. They weren’t the clear favorites for the Cup, but they went deep into the tournament thanks to their ability to deliver as a team.
It was 2016 and England was going through a major transformation under the leadership of Eoin Morgan. The captain and the team management went out of their way to make this team a terrifying batting unit, and the game against South Africa on March 18, 2016 showed the level they can reach if they embrace « freedom ».
England lost their T20 World Cup opening game to the West Indies after Chris Gayle smashed bowlers across the park to complete their century. The next game in the Super 10 phase was against South Africa. Two defeats for Morgan and his team would destroy all hopes of making it to the semi-finals. In other words, this was a must-win game.
South Africa’s skipper Faf du Plessis lost the throw and was instructed to hit a belt on a Wankhede track first. The Proteas got off to an excellent start with the opening games Quinton de Kock (58 runs in 31 balls) and Hashim Amla (52 in 24 balls), which scored half a century. AB de Villiers and du Plessis didn’t make a big impression, but JP Duminy (54 not out) and David Miller (28 of 12) made sure their team had a large sum on board.
The 19th and 20th .Over went for 18 runs at a time, as South Africa thought 229/4 would be a par total even on a good field. England started the chase on a furious note, hitting the 50-run mark within three overs. Jason Roy, Alex Hales, and Ben Stokes all ran fast but didn’t last long enough. Roy scored 43 in 16 balls, including five fours and three sixes. By the time Skipper Morgan left cheaply, England were four behind but had made 111 runs in 9.4 overs.
Joe Root and Jos Buttler made sure the required run rate was kept in check. While Root was pounding the bowlers and crossing the 50-run mark, Buttler was out at 21. When Root fell to 83, England was given 11 balls out of 10.
Two more limits followed and the equation ended in just one last time. Job almost done.
Kyle Abbott bowled past the final. Chris Jordan was out on the first ball and then David Willey was out. A point ball against Moeen Ali and it became embarrassing for England. But there was no turn in the story when Ali found the run in the next ball and England had a record chase with two balls and two wickets.
« Honestly, I felt like we had to get out of our skin play to hunt them down. But there is a lot of talent in our team when we play with freedom. It’s been going on for almost a year now, we’ve had some big chases, « said Morgan after the game.
The hard-won change, the freedom Morgan was talking about, didn’t bring them the World Cup trophy in 2016, but three years later the captain lifted the Lord’s ODI World Cup trophy. England’s first in ODI format.
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The English players also supported the Black Lives Matter movement in the home series against West Indies last year.
Morgan’s team remains one of the tournament favorites as they seek their first T20 world title since 2010 and become the first team to hold both limited-edition trophies at the same time.
West Indies, who entered the tournament after a bitter pay fight with their cricket board, made sure they celebrated their remarkable win to the fullest.
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